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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  STRUT 

WnSTIR.N.Y.  14SM 

(716)  •73-4S03 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Hiatorical  Microreprodvctions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


;\ 


\ 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notej/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiquen 


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n 


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obtenir  la  meilieure  image  possible. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

1 

7 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

laire 
s  details 
ques  du 
It  modifier 
tiger  une 
e  fiimage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
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gAnirosit*  de: 

La  bibliothdque  des  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 

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de  la  nattetA  de  I'exempiaire  filmA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fiimage. 


1/ 
uAes 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  Illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sent  filmAs  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  teSle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^>( meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


lire 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  rAduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


ly  errata 
ed  to 

int 

me  pelure, 

agon  A 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

For  I 


DELIVI 


% 


ADDRESS,  ^ '''A  ^' 


IN   MEMORY  OF 


i!L  .iEV.  EBEf(EZER  DIBBIEE,  D.  D., 

For  Fifty=one  Years  the  Minister  of  St.  Johns 

Church,  Stamford. 


DELIVERED  IN  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  SUNDAY.  MAY  29, 1881, 


BT 


¥l\e  f^ev.  Willikin  ¥ktlodk,  D.  ©., 


RECTOR. 


STAMFORD,   CONN.! 

STAMFORD  HERALD  PRINT. 
1881. 


>\ 


ino] 


?ifcr//>^i.l^«* 


NOTE. 

On  Wednesday,  May  25th,  a  granite 
tomb-stone  was  placed  over  the  remains 
of  Dr.  Dibblee  in  the  burial  ground  of 
St.  John's  church.  It  was  provided  by 
Mrs.  John  W.  Leeds,  in  grateful  memory 
of  the  care  of  the  late  rector  for  her 
mother,  who  was  left  as  a  young  girl 
under  his  guardianship  by  her  loyalist 
parents  during  the  Revolutionary  war. 

W.  T. 


/reel 

ezei 

ter 

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tion 

sion 

Pro] 

Pari 

178^J 

pari: 

writ 

tem] 

attei 

any 

that 

and 

foun 

mad< 

of  n 

asC] 

have 

madt 

of  hi 

He 

Dibl] 

16,  1 

1734, 

preac 

havir 

sion. 

Chur 

quail: 

with 

Strat] 

dent  ( 

wlios* 

tutor 

comn 

the  ni 

terwa 


ADDRESS. 


%' 


In  connection  witli  the  placing  of  a 
monumental  tombstone  over  his  remains, 
,)y  last  Thui'fiday,  I  i)rop()se  this  morning  to 
^/recall  the  life  and  ministry  of  Dr.  Elx  n- 
ezer  Dihblee,  for  tifty-one  years  minis- 
ter of  St.  John's  ehurch.  In  1745  he 
"read  prayers"  here,  before  his  ordina- 
tion. From  1748  to  1784  he  was  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Ei^lish  Societ}'  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts ;  and  after  the  Revolution,  from 
1784  to  1799,  he  was  the  rector  of  the 
parish.  His  life  has  never  yet  been 
written ;  and  so  far  as  I  know,  the  at- 
tempt I  miike  this  morning  is  the  first 
attempt  that  has  ever  been  made  to  give 
any  complete  record  of  a  life  and  a  work 
that  were  very  influential  in  their  day 
and  very  worthy  of  record.  And  as  the 
founder  of  this  parish,  whose  teachings 
made  our  predecessors  and  the  ancestors 
of  many  among  us  whatever  they  were 
as  Christians  and  as  Churchmen,  and  so 
have  shaped  the  intluences  which  have 
made  many  of  us  what  we  are,  a  record 
of  his  life  may  interest  us  personally. 

He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Wakefield 
Dibblee,  and  was  born  at  Danliury,  April 
16,  1715,  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1734,  and  for  some  time  was  a  licensed 
preacher  among  the  Congregationalists, 
having  been  brought  up  in  that  persua- 
sion. He  confijrmed  to  the  Episcopal 
Church,  however,  having  been  made  ac- 
quainted with  it  through  his  intimacy 
with  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  rector  <jf 
Stratford  parish,  and  afterwards  Presi- 
dent of  Columbia  (then  King's)  College, 
whose  conversion  to  Episcopacy  while  a 
tutor  in  Yale  College  made  such  great 
commotion  in  Connecticut.  And  from 
the  number  of  baptisms  he  performed  af- 
terwards, in  his  native  jjlace,  of  persons 


bearing  Ins  own  namo,  we  may  infer 
tliat  ho  brought  many  of  liis  relatives  in- 
to the  Church. 

The  dominant  sect  in  Connecticut  at 
this  time  was  the  Congregational  body. 
It  was  the  form  of  religi<m  established 
by  law,  and  was  very  intolerant  of  any 
other.  Every  person  was  bound  to  pay 
a  tax  for  the  supi)()rt  of  religicm,  in  pro- 
portion to  his  i)roperty,  and  it  was  only 
recently  that  the  "jn'ofessors  of  the 
Church  of  England,"  as  they  were  called, 
had  obtiiined  permission  to  celebrate  Di- 
vine worship  according  to  the  liturgy  of 
that  church,  and  to  have  the  taxes  they 
paid  appropriated  to  tfce  support  of  their 
own  ministers.  One  of  the  clergy  writes, 
in  1742,  to  the  Society  in  England,  "The 
magistrates  of  Connecticut  continue  their 
former  violent  methods,  especially  against 
our  new  ct)nformists,  and  not  long  since 
committed  four  of  them,  contributors 
towards  building  a  church,  to  gaol,  for 
luit  contributing  towards  the  building  of 
a  meeting-housn. " 

In  December,  1742,  the  town  of  Stam- 
ford granted  the  petition  of  the  clmrch 
people  residing  here  f  )r  a  plot  of  ground 
— it  was  45  feet  long  by  35  feet  wide — on 
Avhich  to  build  a  church,  and  in  order 
that  it  might  not  damage  the  town  it  was 
placed  on  a  ledge  of  rocks  outside  the  vil- 
lage, on  the  edge  of  an  impassable  swamp 
to  the  east  and  north.  The  first  church 
was  built  in  1743,  and  the  site  is  now 
covered  by  the  highway  in  front  of  our 
chai)el  building. 

The  times  were  ripe  for  the  establish- 
ment of  our  cluirch  in  New  England,  and 
its  ci)uservative  intluence  wiu:  very  neces- 
sary. Tht^  "sober  Dissenters,"  as  the 
old-fashioned,  orderly  Ccmgregational 
folk  were  called  by  Churchmen,  liad  not 
been  able  to  keep  out  the  fanaticism  of 
Whitetield  and  the  followers  of  Wesley. 
]Nb  tliodisni  had  recently  arisen  in  Eng- 
land, and  had  got  over  into  the  American 
Colonies,  wliere,  unrestrained  by  the 
presence  and  control  of   its   earnest  and 


m 


I 


'  infer 
ves  iii- 

bicut  at 
1  ])()(ly. 
hlished 
of  any 
to  pay 
in  pro- 
as only 
of    the 
J  called, 
rate  Di- 
jurgy  of 
ies  they 
of  their 
J  writes, 
a,  "The 
lue  theii- 
^  against 
iig  since 
ributors 
gaol,  for 
Llding  of 

a  Stam- 
^,  el  lurch 
;  ground 
vide — on 
in  order 
m  it  was 
e  the  vil- 
e  swamp 
t  church 
}  is  now 
it  of  our 

'stahlish- 
and,  and 
ry  neces- 
'  as  the 
l^gational 
had  not 
iticisni  of 
Wesley. 
1  in  Eng- 
\nierican 
by    the 
H'liest  and 


I 


pious  founder,  it  ran  into  many  and  vio- 
Ifut  t^xcesses.  The  followers  of  White- 
lield,  however,  were  still  more  fanati(Md 
and  ungoverned.  "The  letters  fron'  this 
country"  to  the  English  Society  "abound 
with  the  wild  doings  of  enthusiasm." 
"Not  only  Teachers,  but  Taylors,  Sho(»- 
makers,  and  other  Mechanicks,  and  even 
Women,  Boys  and  Girls,  were  become 
(as  their  term  is)  exhorttrs.  From  all 
whieli,  this  advantage  hath  by  God's 
kind  Providence  arisen,  that  it  hatli  re- 
markably engaged  serious  People's  At- 
tenti<m  to  our  Liturgy  and  the  Doctrines 
of  our  clergy  ;  and  this  hath  brought 
many  considerable  Families,  more  espe- 
cially at  Stratford  under  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Johnson,  to  be 
added  to  the  Church." 

The  first  servici  s  held  here  were  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Caner,  missionarv  at  Fair- 
field,  in  1727.  The  missionary  at  Rye, 
Mr.  Wetmore,  also  officiated  here  from 
time  to  time.  Mr.  Caner  reports,  in 
174:4,  that  "there  have  been  large  acces- 
sions to  the  Church  of  Persons  who  ap- 
pear to  have  a  serious  sense  of  Religio.i, 
at  Norwalk,  Ri'lgetield,  and  Stamford." 
And  in  1747  he  writes,  "Likewise  the 
good  peopie  of  Stamford,  hitherto  com- 
prehended within  the  mission  of  Fair- 
field, have  built  a  Church,  to  which  they 
have  given  the  Name  of  St.  John,  and 
they  have  conveyed  to  the  Society  by  a 
Deed  of  Gift,  an  House  and  seven  acres 
of  Land,  for  the  use  of  the  Rector  of  that 
Church  iov  the  Time  being  for  ever  ;  and 
they  oblige  themselves  to  pay  him  £20 
Sterling  yearly, on  condition  that  the  So- 
ciety will  vouclisafe  to  aj^point  a  vorthy 
Missionary  to  St.  John's  Church  iu 
Stamford.'" 

The  Stamford  churchmen  made  two 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  secure  a  resi- 
dent mmister.  Owing  to  political  rea- 
sons the  English  Government  had  posi- 
tively refused  ta  allow  the  consecration 
of  a  bishop  for  the  colonies,  and  they 
were  therefore,  until  after  the  Revolu- 


6 


tiounry  War,  luidcr  the  eoclcsiftstioal  jur- 
isdiction of  the  Bishop  of  Loiulon,  uiul 
nil  thosowho  desirt'il  to  receive  Holy  Or- 
ders were  under  the  necessity  of  under- 
taking i  long  and  perilous  voyage  to 
England  to  receive  them.  The  Stamford 
chia*ch-i)eoi)le  "contributed  considerably 
to  jiKsist  Mr.  Isaac  Brown,  when  he  vvtuit 
home  for  Orders,  with  the  hoi)e  tl)at  he 
might  have  been  sent  to  them,  but  were 
disappointed  by  his  coming  back  for 
Brookhaven."  They  afterwards  assisted 
Mr.  Richardson  Miner,  who  was  a  Con- 
gregational minister  at  Trumbull  from 
1730  to  1744,  to  go  home  for  Holy  Or- 
ders :  l)ut  he  was  taken  bv  the  French 
on  his  i)assage,  and  after  his  release  from 
continement,  while  on  his  way  from  Port 
Louis  in  France  to  London,  he  died  of  a 
fever  at  Salisbury,  to  the  givat  sorrow  of 
his  waiting  and  dependent  family.  Not 
discouraged  by  repeated  failure,  they 
sent  Mr.  Dibblee.  He  had  declined  a 
call  to  succeed  Mr.  Caiier,  who  had  re- 
cently become  the  minister  of  King's 
Chapel,  in  Boston,  and  had  accepted  the 
charge  of  the  Stamford  church  on  condi- 
tiou  that  it  would  pay  his  expenses  to 
England  for  Orders.  Two  brothers, 
John  Lloyd  of  Stamford,  who  lived  in 
what  is  now  called  the  Davenj^ort  House 
in  West  Park,  and  Henry  Lloyd,  of 
Boston,  afterwards  of  Lloyd's  Neck,  on 
Long  Island,  paid  his  expenses,  which 
were  afterwards  repaid,  to  them  in  great 
jiart  by  the  other  parishioners.  Mr. 
Dibblee  had  served  ilie  parish  as  lay- 
reader  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and  went  to 
England  for  Orders  in  1747.  He  was  or- 
dained Deacon  in  the  Parish  Church  of 
Kensington,  on  Wednesday,  August  3d, 
1748,  by  Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  by  the  same  prelate  and  in  the 
same  place  ordained  Priest  on  Sunday, 
Aiigust  7tli,  1748.  On  the  11th  of  Aug- 
ust, Edmund,  Bishop  of  London,  granted 
him  license  to  officiate  in  the  Province  of 
New  England  in  America,  then  imder  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop 


f 


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re{ 

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11,  uiul 
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Loriil)ly 
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that  he 
it  were 
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iHsistetl 
a  C(  Hi- 
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oly  Or- 
Frciicli 
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•e,    they 
cliued  a 
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Mr. 
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Sunday, 
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.  granted 
ovince  oi 
luider  the 
,ti  Bishop 


of  London,  liis  (l«H*larution  of  coiiforDiity 
to  the  Cliuri'li  of  Kiigland  having  been 
subserihed  the  same  <lay.  On  the  17th 
day  of  August,  17tS,  tlic  Society  for  the 
Pi-oi)agation  of  the  (lospel  in  TM)reigii 
]*arts  appointed  liini  its  missionary  at 
Stamford  and  (Jreenwieli,  at  a  yearly 
jniiiuity  or  ]»ension  of  twenty  poumls  of 
Liwfnl  money  »)f  Great  JJritain,  to  eom- 
inenee  from  St.  John  the  Hai)tist's  day, 
171H.  His  tirst  jMitry  iu  the  Parish 
Ki'gisti'r  is,  "Arrived  to  my  mission 
Oetobt  r  '2()th,  1748,  and  began  to  do  duty 
tliti  Siindav  following." 

So  his  half-century  of  work  began. 
His  immediate  charge?  ineluded  Green- 
w*ieh,  ami  what  are  now  in  i)art  the 
towns  of  Hedford  on  the  north,  and  New 
Canaan  and  Darien  on  th(!  east,  and  the 
present  town  of  Stamford.  He  was  a 
genuine  missionary,  however,  and  his 
irecjuent  excursions  t(H»k  liim  to  Kye, 
White  Plains,  Peekskill,  Northcastle  and 
Salem,  ill  the  New  York  Colony,  and  to 
Kidgetield,  Danbury,  Norwalk,  Kedding, 
Newtown,  and  as  far  north  as  Litchfield, 
Sharon  and  Salisbury  in  Connecticut, 
and  to  Huntington  on  Long  Island,  in  all 
w  hich  phn^es  he  preached  the  Gosixd  and 
administered  the  Sacraments.  He  wa« 
a  great  friend  of  that  generous  church- 
man, St.  George  Talbot,  whose  l)enef ac- 
tions our  own  i>arish,  and  many  others, 
enjoyed  at  that  time,  and  some  of  them 
are  enjoying  still.  Mr.  Dibblee  and  Mr. 
Tal]K)t  made  several  journeys  together, 
encouraging  and  strengthening  the  scat- 
tered parishes  of  the  Church,  and  the 
influence  and  counsel  of  owr  old  rector 
inspired  and  guided  the  beneficent  use 
of  Mr.  Talbot's  wealth. 

The  chief  sources  of  information  as  to 
Mr.  Dibl)lee's  ministrv  are  the  annual 
rei)orts  he  made  to  the  Sfx^iety  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  Par- 
ish Kegister  and  Records,  which  were 
very  well  kept  except  during  the  Kevolu- 
tionary  War. 

In  1750  he  reports  that  his  labors  are 


att<'iHlt'(l  with  visible  success  in  ench  part 
of  liis  extensive  missiou.  He  had  a  very 
iiunierouH  nmUeiico  on  Christmas  Day, 
and  many  Dissenters  among  them,  some 
of  wlioni  deehired  they  never  saw  a  more 
regular  or  better  ordered  Christian  as- 
sembly. 

In  1757  he  writes  that  he  continues  in 
a  eonstant  painful  discliargeof  the  duties 
of  his  mission,  and  his  church  is  in  a 
l)eaceful,  increasing  state  ;  and  also  that 
he  has  officiated  occasionally  to  the  poor 
people  of  Salem,  and  wants  Bibles  and 
Prayer-b(X)ks   for   Salem  and  Stamford. 

In  1761  we  find  the  introduction  of  the 
parochial  collections, — they  were  voted 
by  the  i)arish  to  be  made  at  the  evening 
service.  Tlie  rector  was  supported  in 
part  by  the  Society's  grant  of  £20  a  year, 
ill  part  by  the  ministerial  rates  or  taxes, 
and  in  part  by  voluntary  subscription. 

In  1763  he  writes  that  he  has  the  hap- 
piness to  live  among  a  people  who  in 
general  are  of  a  cpiiet  and  peaceful  dis- 
position, and  make  a  religious  improve- 
ment of  the  advantages  they  enjoy.  In 
this  year  the  inhabitants  of  Stamford 
numbered  2,792. 

In  1764  the  chapel  at  Horseneck  was 
often  much  crowded  when  he  did  duty 
there  on  the  second  Sunday  of  each 
month.  Three  Sunday  evenings  in  the 
month  he  officiated  at  Old  Greenwich, 
or  Riverside. 

In  1766  he  reporis  that  there  are  in  his 
care  186  heads  of  families,  and  62  actual 
communicants. 

In  1775,  the  year  before  the  War,  he 
reports  that  notwithstanding  the  melan- 
clK)ly  state  of  the  Province  and  the  emi- 
gration of  some  heads  of  families  (to  New 
Brunswick  and  Nova  Sicotia),  there  re- 
main at  Stamford  and  Greenwich  about 
227  families, 'professors  of  the  church, 
and  about  90  communicants. 

In  1781,  the.  Society's  report  states 
that  no  accounts  had  been  received  di- 
rectly from  the  missionaries  who  still  re- 
side in  the  New  England  Colonies ;  but 


i 


f 


ot 


thf 

ica 

tht 

wej 

hei 

ma 

coi 

em 


9 


ijich  pftvt 
u\  a  very 
ittft  Day, 
3in,  somo 
w  a  more 
istiau  aH- 

itiniiGB  in 
Dhe  duties 
1  is  in  a 
[  hIbo  that 
)  the  poor 
5il)les  and 
Stamford, 
tion  of  the 
rere  vo^ed 
le  evening 
)ported  in 
i20  a  year, 
>8  or  taxes, 
sription. 
IS  the  hap- 
ile  who  in 
rfaceful  dis- 
Ls  improve- 
enjoy.     In 
:   Stamford 

seneck  was 
le  did  dutv 
,y  of  each 
'ngs  in  the 
Greenwich, 

:e  are  in  his 
id  62  actual 

the  War,  he 
the  melan- 
,nd  the  emi- 
liesCtoNew 
i),  there  re- 
liwich  about 
the  church, 

•eport  states 
received  di- 
who  still  re- 

lolonies ;  but 


that  ther<»  is  reason  to  believe,  from  gen- 
eral reiK)rtH,  that  thoir  condition  is  mnch 
better  than  it  has  been,  and  tkey  live 
more  (piietly,  though  their  churches  are 
still  shut  up.  Tliis  was  during  the  War 
of  tht^  llevolution.  It  apjK^ars,  howover, 
that  the  (^lergy  were  not  absolutely  hin- 
dered from  offi(dating — jn'obably  in  pri- 
vat(5  houses — for  I  have  seen  two  manu- 
S(  rijjt  wrmous  on  the  Healing  of  Naaman, 
on  wliieh  is  the  notti,  in  I)r,  DibbUn^'s 
handwriting,  "Preaclied  Mar.  Ifi,  1777." 
It  is  matter  of  history  that  the  Epis- 
copal clergy  in  tlu^  northern  colonies 
generally  were  loyal  to  the  king.  They 
often  i)ersisted  in  using  the  prayer  for 
•'our  Sovereign  Lord  King  George," 
when  to  do  so  wixs  jis  perilous  as  it  was 
in  the  South  during  our  late  Civil  War 
to  pray  for  the  l^resident  of  the  United 
States.  The  War  ai)peared  to  the  loyal- 
ists of  that  time  in  very  much  the  same 
light  as  the  Rebelli(m  appeared  to  us,  and 
we  cannot  greatly  blame  them  for  their 
loyalty.  In  the  parish  at  Newt-own  the 
fearless  rector  read  the  Prayer  for  the 
King's  Majesty  with  the  muskets  of 
American  soldiers  levelled  at  his  head, 
having  been  forbidden  to  read  it  on  peril 
of  his  life.  Many  of  the  clergy  were  im- 
jniscmed  or  banished,  and  many  escaped 
to  Canada  and  the  Provinces  of  New 
Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  Mr.  Dib- 
blee  does  not  appear  to  have  left  his  post, 
though  his  eldest  son,  Fyler,  and  the 
youngest,  Frederick,  escaped  to  New 
Brunswick,  and  one  historian  speaks  of 
himself  as  having  been  "cruelly  dragged 
through  mire  and  dirt."  His  parishion- 
ers were  well  represented  on  both  sides 
— his  own  third  sou,  Ebenezer,  went  into 
the  New  York  Colony  and  took  the  Amer- 
ican side — and  the  passions  aroused  by 
the  war  must  have  divided  the  church  as 
well  as  the  c<jmmunity.  And  not  only 
here,  but  everywhere,  the  fact  that  so 
many  of  the  Tories  were  Churchmen,  and 
conscientiously  opposed  to  the  war, weak- 
ened the  church  in  the  estimation  of  the 


't 


10 


I 


I,  i  I : 


!,t 


te- 


jKoplc  ill  oxnural,  and  created  a  pivjudice 
ugaiiist  it  which  it  took  a  long  tinae  to 
overcome. 

The  Episcopal  Parishes  had  to  suifer 
great  loss  from  the  flight  or  banishment 
»  of  many  of  their  members,  and  the  con- 
Hsoation  of  tht  ir  pr»  perty  •  and  then,  in 
1785,  from  the  withdrawal  of  the  aid 
hitherto  extended  by  the  Propagation. 
Society  for  the  support  of  tlu  ir  clergy. 
For  in  that  year  tlie  Society  communi- 
cated with  Mr.  Dibblee,  and  through  him 
to  the  other  missionaries  employed  in  this 
y  te,  that  it  could  not  consistently  with 
\  . ''arter  contLivie  to  employ  any  mis- 
•,i;mi,i  ies  except  in  the  Plantations,  Col- 

r'  1  and  Factories  belcmging  to  the 
i.  ;  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  their 
l)resent  salaries  would  be  continued  no 
longer  than  Michaelmas  next. 

Tliis  action  of  the  socioty  in  England 
threw  the  burden  of  Mr.  Dibblee's  sup- 
port entirely  on  the  parish,  which  imme- 
diately increased  his  salary  from  £50  to 
£G(),  13s.,  4d.,  and  renewed  t lie  union  un- 
der his  "Parsonal  Care"  with  Greenwich 
parish,  Stamford  to  have  two  thirds  of 
his  service,  and  Greenwich  one  third. 
Wliether  Stamford  and  Greenwich  to- 
gether found  it  difficult  to  support  him, 
and  were  therefore  contented  to  share 
the  service  with  still  another  parish  in 
order  to  share  the  respimsibility,  or 
whether  the  arrangement  grew  out  of  the 
scarcity  of  clergy  immediately  after  the 
War,  we  cannot  tell,  but  Mr.  Dil)lee's 
pastoral  charge  appears  in  1785  to  have 
included  Rye,  to  which  he  gave  (me 
fourth  of  his  Sundays,  and  which  provided 
one  fourth  of  his  salary.  In  3  788  consent 
was  voted  by  the  parish  that  he  should 
give  one  Sunday  in  twelve  to  Rye,  and 
afterwards  that  he  should  go  there  "as 
often  as  he  may  think  best  and  for  the 
good  of  the  Church." 

Before  the  Revolution  the  parif>li  seems 
to  have  been  organized  after  the  Eng- 
lish system,  wbich  now  jm-vails  in  New 
York     Stati-:     tlie     "Professors    of    the 


^-? 


11 


I  prejudice 
ig  time  to 

d  to  suffer 
)iiiiishmeiit 
d  the  con- 
ad  then,  in 
of   the   aid 
ropagation. 
n  ir  clergy. 
'  commuiii- 
irough  him 
oyed  in  this 
tently  with 
ly  any  mis- 
ations,  Col- 
ing    to  the 
that   their 
mtinued  no 

t. 

in  England 
bblee's  sup- 
vhich  imme- 
irom  £50  to 
le  union  uu- 
.  Greenwich 
wo  thirds  of 
one   third, 
eenwich   to- 
ipport  him, 
ed  to   share 
parish  in 
isibility,    or 
wout  of  the 
y  after  the 
^'r.    DiV)lee's 
.785  to  have 
gave    one 
ich  provided 
1 788  consent 
it  lie   should 
,o  Rye,   and 
go  there  "as 
and  for  the 

paridi  seems 
■ter  the   Eng- 

vails  in  New 
bsors    of    the 


I 

4 


Church  of  England''  meeting  eviTV  Eas- 
ter Monday  to  elect  Wardens  and  Vestry- 
men, who  constituted  the  legal  C(>v])ora- 
tion.  After  the  War,  however,  it  was 
re-constituted  in  accordance  with  the 
Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut — th(>se 
who  desired  to  belong  to  it  being  legally 
warned  under  waiTant  of  Abraham  Dav- 
enport, Justice  of  the  Peace,  on  Septem- 
tember  20,  1784,  and  assembling  accord- 
ingly on  the  80tli,  to  tVtrm  an  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Society.  By  act  of  the  Legislature 
the  title  to  the  property  hitluTto  held  for 
church  purposes  by  the  Propjigation 
Society  in  England^  passed  to  the  parish 
itself,  which  now  holds  tlie  Glebe  lands 
in  trust  for  the  use  of  the  Rector. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  whtm  the 
Episcop.d  i'hurch  in  the  independent 
United  States  could  take  measures  for  se- 
curing the  Ei)isc(»pate,  and  uuist  do  so  if 
it  would  not  cUe  out,  for  it  woiild  hence- 
forth be  impossible  to  rely  outlaw  Bishop 
of  Lt)ndon  for  the  ordination  of  its  clergy. 
The  tirst  step  towards  it  was  taken  in 
Connecticut,  where  ten  of  the  clergy  met 
in  Wo<«lbm'y,  in  a  house  still  standing, 
and  made  choice  of  the  Rev.  Sanniel 
Seabury  to  go  to  England,  and  set^k  for 
eonsecraticm  at  the  hands  of  the  English 
Bishops.  Faihng  in  this  he  went  to 
Scotland,  and  was  consecrated  by  three 
of  the  Scottish  bishops  on  the  14tli  of  Eol>- 
jmoyy,  1784,  as  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  in 
which  office  he  served  nearly  12  yeurs. 
Provision  had  to  lunnade  for  his  sui)p()rt, 
and  in  1788,  (Feb.  8th)  this  i)arish  sent  a 
a  lay-delegate  to  the  c(mventi(»n  at  Wat- 
crbury  (Feb.  IJUh)  to  confer  with  the 
representatives  of  other  j^ii'i-'^hes  in  the 
matter.  This  a])i)ears  to  have  been  the 
first  Diocesan  Convention. 

Having  st^cured  tlie  Episcopate,  the 
next  step  was  to  adapt  the  English 
I'raytU'  Book  to  the  use  of  the  American 
church.  So  far  as  the  changes  rendered 
neci'ssary  by  the  national  independence 
were  c(>ncerned,  the  task  was  easy,  and  the 
Prayers  for  the  I*resident  and  Congresa 


^^iy/^ 


I 

1, 


;< ; 


12 


were  substituted  for  the  Prayers  for 
the  King's  Majesty  and  for  the  High 
Court  of  Parhament.  But  many,  espec- 
ially in  the  Southern  States — Pennsylva- 
nia bein^  counted  as  a  Southern  State — 
desired  radical  changes,  aflfei^ting  doc- 
trine and  order,  and  it  is  largely  due  to 
Bishop  Seabury  and  his  clergy  that  more 
variation  has  not  been  made  between  the 
American  and  the  English  Prayer  Books, 
and  that  such  changes  as  have  been 
made  are  for  the  most  part  evidently 
changes  for  the  better.  But  it  was  hard 
for  Dr.  Dibblee,  then  one  of  the  oldest 
clergy  in  the  Diocese,  to  reconcile  him- 
self to  much  change,  and  though  our 
present  Prayer  Book  was  adopted  in  1789, 
he  continued  to  use  the  English  Book  for 
3  years  longer.  I  have  recently  seen  a 
letter,  in  the  hand-writing  of  Bishop 
Seabury,  addressed  on  the  22nd  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1792,  to  Mr.  Dibblee,  couched  in 
terms  of  the  highest  personal  considera- 
tion, expressing  the  desire  that  he  would 
review  in  his  own  mind  the  grounds  and 
principles  on  which  he  had  hitherto  re- 
frained from  the  use  of  the  Prayer  Book 
of  the  Church  in  the  United  States.  It 
is  an  admirable  letter,  every  way,  and 
seems  to  have  had  its  desired  eflfect,  for  I 
find  in  the  Parish  Record,  under  date  of 
9th  of  April,  1792,  that  the  Parish  passed 
a  vote  to  adopt  the  new  constitution  or 
liturgy  of  the  Church,  as  agre;  d  ujion 
by  the  Bishop  and  clergy  of  this  State, 
provided  that  it  is  agreeable  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Dibblee. 

But  the  old  rector  was  growing  feeble 
year  by  year,  for  he  had  passed  four- 
score, and  on  the  ninth  day  of  April, 
1798,  it  was  voted  that  the  War- 
dens apply  to  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut 
for  an  Assistant-Minister.  Very  consid- 
erate were  the  parishioners  in  all  their 
action — their  letter  to  him  and  his  reply 
are  both  extant,  and  show  the  affection 
and  respect  subsisting  on  both  sides. 
The  Rev.  Calvin  White  seems  to  have 
become  the  A«sistant,  with  the  right  of 


•w 


13 


'rayers    for 
f  the  High 
any,  espec- 
-Peinisylva- 
erii  State — 
eoting   cloc- 
gely  due  to 
ry  that  more 
between  the 
L-ayer  Books, 
lia\e  been 
rt  evidently 
i  it  was  liard 
►f  the  oldest 
3oncile  him- 
though  o\ir 
.pted  in  1789, 
lish  Book  for 
ently  seen  a 
y    of  Bishop 
>2nd  of  Feb- 
I,  couched  in 
lal  considera- 
;hat  he  would 
grounds  and 
hitherto  re- 
Prayer  Book 
d  States.     It 
ery  way,  and 
(d  effect,  fori 
mder  date  of 
Parish  passed 
institution  or 
agreed  upon 
of  this  State, 
3  to  Rev.  Mr. 

;rowing  feeble 
passed  four- 
day  of  April, 
the     War- 
Connecticut 
Very  consid- 
s  in  all  their 
and  his  reply 
the   affection 
both    sides, 
jeems  to  have 
li  the  right  of 


succession,  though  he  did  not  succeed 
him  in  the  rectorship.  On  the  9th  of 
May,  1799,  Dr.  Dibblee  died,  aged  84 
years.  From  the  recollections  of  an  old 
member  of  the  church,  deceased  a  few 
years  since,  I  have  gathered  that  he  died 
of  a  tumor  in  the  face — she  rtmiembered 
his  preaching  with  liis  face  bound  up  in 
a  doth. 

His  wife,  Joanna  Bates,  died  3  years 
before  him,  and  her  remains,  with  those 
of  his  daughter,  (probably  Joanna,  the 
eldest,)  rest  in  the  same  place  with  his. 
His  son,  Frederick,  a  graduate  of  King's 
College,  (now  Columbia)  became  a  cler- 
gvman,  and  Rector  of  Woodstock,  N.  B. , 
and  died  in  1826. 

"The  funeral  of  Dr.  Dibblee,"  says 
the  1  arrative,  "was  attended  by  a  large 
concourse  of  people,  and  he  went  to  the 
grave  like  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe  for 
the  garner."  Ten  days  before  his  death 
the  parish  met,  and  placed  on  record  a 
a  recognition  of  "the  valuable  benefits 
received  through  the  faithful  service  and 
unremitting  labours"  of  the  rector.  These 
labours  had  not  been  confined  to  his  own 
parish.  He  was  the  first  member  of  the 
"College  of  Doctors,"  or  Ctmncil  of  Ad- 
vice to  the  Bishop,  now  called  the  Stand- 
ing Committee,  and  from  the  beginning  al- 
most to  tlie  end  of  his  ministrv  he  Avas 
often  in  the  adjoining  towns  ]  (reaching 
and  baptizing.  He  baptized,  altogether, 
over  3,500  persons,  and  from  the 
mother  church  of  St.  John  have 
grown  the  i>arishes  of  Christ  Church, 
Gret!nwich  ;  (with  the  parishes  at  Round 
Hill  and  Glenville  in  that  town,)  St. 
Mark's,  New  Canaan  ;  St.  Luke's,  Dar- 
ien  ;  St.  Andrt'w's,  Stamford  ;  and  Em- 
manuel Mission  Church,  Stamford. 

It  was  a  fitting  thing,  therefore,  that 
we  placed  above  his  tomb  last  Wednes- 
day the  massive  granite  which  so  well 
represents  the  firnaiessaiul  strength  of  liis 
character  and  principles,  surmounted  by 
the  floriated  cross  which  tells  the  story 
of  the   Christian  made  poi'fect  through 


1 


II   m%M   m\<\  ■ 


14 


sufferings  and  triumphant  over  them, 
with  fitting  words  of  commemoration 
from  the  successor  of  the  first  American 
bishop,  whose  counsels  and  whose  la- 
bours, which  did  so  much  to  shape  the 
future  of  our  church  in  this  land,  our  old 
rector  so  abundantly  shared. 

He  rests  from  his  labours,   and  his 
works  do  follow  him. 


f, 


I 


lii 


i 


« 


k  over  them, 
[nmemoration 
jst  American 
id  whose  la- 
to  shape  the 
land,  our  old 
I. 
urs,   and  his 


el 
.4 


7^ 


'% 


r.> 


